Human
by Subaru-chan
Summary: Amace is human. Sure he is. There's no way he is a demon...right? Set during volume 21


Amace's eyes opened in the silence of the night. The moon was high in the sky, lightening his bare room. He rose soundlessly, opened the door carefully, went down the stairs like a shadow. There was no other way. This boy was insane. Useless. And over all, he was dangerous in his insanity. He called himself a demon…and he called Amace a demon, as well. He was wrong, of course. He had gone insane, his mind twisted by the dreadful demon. Poor boy, Amace thought without so much as a hint of pity. For that boy was dangerous. He was inside the temple, and no matter how carefully Amace locked the door, his voice could reach people. His broken voice saying 'Amace is a demon'.

I'm not a demon. I'm human. Of course.

He unlocked silently the door. He had to be fast.

The picture of a criminal erasing hastily every proof or sign of his blameable deed popped in his mind. No, he wasn't like that, of course. He had nothing to hide. Nothing to feel shame for. He had made sure he became a man, a priest, his grandfather would be proud of. His human grandfather. Of course. Sellghi was just like that raving mad boy, a liar, a mistaken one. Amace was positive he was not mistaken. He was doing what was only natural. He needed not even think about it.

It's just…He knew, he was certain of what he was and did, but others weren't. Others could be deceived by Sellghi, or by the demon's treacherous lies through the boy's mouth. Amace had underestimated him, and bringing the boy he had tarnished in the enclosure of the temple was probably not such a good idea after all. But he couldn't have foreseen that. He was going to hide him someplace. He was going to make up for that mistake. That sole mistake he had done.

He dashed in. The boy opened his eyes with difficulty, to close them right after, stunned by the drug. Amace lifted him effortlessly. Now he just needed not to bump into anyone. But God would help him, for what he was doing was right. He had no doubt to have, he wasn't answerable to anyone.

If something was useless, he'd ignore it. If something was dangerous, he'd get rid of it. That was just normal. The ways of a straightforward man, at most. He paused, a bit out of breath. As light as Lake Sierra was, he was still a young man of eighteen, not so small, and to climb up all these stairs…

Lake Sierra. Even his name sounded strange. That boy might be right after all. He didn't seem completely human. Not a demon, of course, but…a strange person. A person liable to befriend demons. A wrong person.

He drew near the parapet of the gallery he was crossing. The night was quiet, silent. The demon had died, the boy was here, everything was settled and everyone was sleeping. A quiet, witness-less night. He slowly outstretched his arms, offering the boy to the nothingness.

_I just have to drop him._

He's unconscious, he won't scream. No one will hear him. There's no way he'd survive to such a fall. To shut up that dangerous mouth…forever.

No one would find him before tomorrow morning. And he had cried so much and screamed so loudly, he had looked so desperate, so insane, that no one would be surprised. He jumped off, they'd say. He wanted to go back to that demon's place. Poor boy, think of how infatuated he was, how much he's been deceived. A pity, really. They'd complain for him a bit, and they wouldn't blame Amace, who had unfortunately forgotten to lock the door. A mistake is so easy to commit, after all those stressing months. The boy would have made up his mind while he was alone, they'd say. They'd imagine him, tears flowing down his pretty face, fragile in his white tunic, running through the empty corridor, on his noiseless bare feet, to meet his death, to meet his demon. That was the kind of story people would like, hence would believe.

He just had to drop him. All his troubles would be gone. There'd be no one left to maliciously say he was a demon.

The boy in his arms emitted a faint sound, a weak cough in his sleep. Suspended over the void, a cold wind toyed with his crimson silky hair.

Amace blinked. The sensation of the boy's warmth, of his breath…of his life amazed him. He was a living being. A young human that had not even reached his twenties. A person the temple was protecting from the evilness of demons. He precipitately withdrew his arms, his heart throbbing, his mind confused. He was thinking to…kill the boy. To wilfully destroy his life, planning even to disguise his own evil deed in suicide. To do what even the demon didn't. He had been about to kill a human being.

Amace heard a noise and realized he was breathing heavily. He held the boy tighter, as if he was about to wake up and tell him, 'if you want me to die, then I'll die' and to jump off the parapet, leaving him alone with his crime. Amace looked at the defenceless boy, sound asleep in his arms, calmer that he had ever been. He had considered killing him.

Amace almost run up the last stairs, higher even, further away even, than what he had been planning first. To the top of the temple. He tied the boy's hand, his feet, and shut his mouth with a gag, almost hatefully. All of this was his fault. Everything.

Then he closed the door carefully, locked it twice, and ran down the stairs. He couldn't wait. He wanted to escape from that life he had been scheduling to wipe out so violently. Like a demon.

I'm not a demon, I'm not.

I'm human.

Right?


End file.
